To hug or embrace: to clip and cling. To clip the coin; to diminish the current coin. To clip the king’s English; to be unable to speak plain through drunkenness.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Clinkers * Cloak TwitchersNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes